Science Fact or Cinematic Fiction

In today’s films, there is an ever-growing demand to make the impossible come to life. Animators and visual effects artists are getting becoming better masters of their craft, and they make it harder and harder to differentiate between scientific fact and cinematic fiction. When it comes to animation, audiences have come to expect stunts and gags that defy the laws of physics. One principle that is commonly broken in animated movies is that of action with an equal reaction. In the films “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Croods,” and “The Incredibles,” this occurs in scenes involving jumps.

In “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” Flint and Sam walk into a house made of Jell-O. Flint walks through the Jell-O without much effort, but a minute later, we see him and Sam bounce high into the air as if the floor were a trampoline. When Flint walks into the Jell-O, the tilt of his body implies that not a lot of force was put into pushing through the gelatin, and the Jell-O seems easily breakable. In the scene following that, Flint and Sam should not have been able to stand on the floor, much less bounce around the room, without falling through. When Sam and Flint walk and bounce around the house, the pressure under their feet is a lot greater than the force Flint put into walking into the Jell-O because the base of support is a lot smaller and the amount of pressure applied is greater. There are many instances in which the fact is sacrificed for fiction, but the audience is willing to overlook this because it adds comedic effect.

The film “The Croods” opens with the Crood family coming out of their cave for the first time in days. Eep bursts out of the cave, jumps onto her father, jumps onto the cliff face, runs across the wall, and jumps up on top of their cave. This series of shots contains many actions that defy physics. For instance, when Eep jumps onto Grug, Grug doesn’t seem to move very much. Although Grug is very sturdy, Eep is built in such a way that she should have been heavy enough to warrant a larger reaction from Grug. This is an example of action with a lesser reaction. When Eep jumps off of Grug’s back, she jumps very high, but she doesn’t have the anticipation to match it. Also, her path of action is exaggerated to look more arched and fluid. She seems to travel along a half circle, which is not realistic. She starts traveling vertically before she starts moving horizontally. If we were to track her position horizontally, it would look like she slows into the motion. In addition, Eep should not have been able to run across the cliff face with such ease. Gravity would have pulled her down before she even ran two steps. In order for Eep to be able to run along the wall in such a way, she would first have to be traveling horizontally at a high speed so that inertia would hold her against the wall long enough for her to run across. Despite the many instances in which the laws of physics are broken, the audience is still able to accept the impossible because it brings the scene to life.

“The Incredibles” is a film in which many physics principles are broken because it’s a universe in which superheroes exist, and superheroes are often exceptions to certain laws of physics. However, in the case of gravity, Mr. Incredible is not exempt. During the final battle scene, Mr. Incredible is fighting the Omnidroid. He lunges at it, tackles it, and it falls to the ground. One way in which the scene was exaggerated is the fact that Mr. Incredible should not have been able to knock over the Omnidroid. Heavier objects taking longer to move when they are at rest. At his current weight and speed, the Omnidroid should have stopped Mr. Incredible in his tracks. In order to knock over the Omnidroid, Mr. Incredible would need to either weigh more or travel faster. Either way, the law of inertia would have kept Mr. Incredible moving long enough to at least make the Omnidroid budge. Also, the surface of the Omnidroid is much too smooth for anyone to be able to get a good grip on it. Mr. Incredible’s hands should have slipped across the surface, and his entire body should have just shot past its target. Another example of why this scene is not realistically plausible is because Mr. Incredible and the Omnidroid are several stories above the ground, yet Mr. Incredible lands on the ground unharmed. As tough as Mr. Incredible is, it’s easy to believe that he doesn’t sustain life-threatening injuries, but falling from that height should have hurt him in some way. Furthermore, if objects fall at the same rate, Mr. Incredible should not have separated from the Omnidroid as they fall from the building. Although Mr. Incredible has less mass than the Omnidroid and would have a lower terminal velocity in comparison, he would still fall at the same speed as the Omnidroid. Air resistance would not have been a large factor in Mr. Incredible’s falling speed because the Omnidroid would have blocked any incoming air resistance. Although the physics in this scene is impossible, the action is still believable and it adds entertainment value to battle.

In the three films, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “The Croods,” and “The Incredibles,” it’s clear that jumps are often exaggerated by breaking the laws of physics. A basic knowledge of physics makes it easier to tell which shots are based on cinematic fiction and which are scientific fact. Although animators do not always accurately follow the principle of action and reaction, these scenes are still believable. The audience is able to believe the impossible.

Outline for the Second Term Paper

Unrealistic Jumps; Action and Reaction


INTRODUCTION

• In today’s films, there is an ever-growing demand to make the impossible come to life.
• Animators and visual effects artists are getting better at their jobs, and they make it harder and harder to differentiate between fact and fiction.
• Often times, movies break the principle of action with an equal reaction.

BODY

• “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs”
• The Jell-O house should not have been able to bounce them.
• If they are able to simply walk through it, then jumping on it should have broken the surface and they would have fallen through.
• Sam cannon-balled into the Jell-O pool, but Flint’s belly flop didn’t break the surface of the Jell-O.
•  The texture in the timing of their jumps were added for entertainment value.
• Their paths of action are greatly exaggerated.
• “The Croods”
•  When Eep jumps onto Grug, Grug doesn't move much.
• Eep is fairly heavy, so there should have been a bigger reaction from the unexpected weight.
• Eep's path of action when she flips from Grug's back onto the rock is incorrect.
• She begins traveling mostly vertically before she moves horizontally.
• Eep should not have been able to scale the wall with such ease.
• She was not traveling fast enough horizontally for there to have been enough force to hold her against the wall.
•  "The Incredibles”
• During the final battle scene, Mr. Incredible should not have been able to knock over the Omnidroid.
• In order to knock over the Omnidroid, Mr. Incredible would need to either weigh more or travel faster. At his current weight and speed, the Omnidroid should have stopped him in his tracks because he does not have enough momentum.
• Mr. Incredible should not have had enough traction to hold on to the Omnidroid. He should have slipped across its surface
• If things fall at the same rate, Mr. Incredible should not have separated from the Omnidroid as they were falling.
• Falling from such a high distance, Mr. Incredible should not have landed unharmed.

CONCLUSION

• Although there are many instances in which animators do not accurately follow the principle of action and reaction, these scenes are still believable, and the audience does not question it.
• A basic knowledge of physics makes it easier to tell which shots are fiction and which are fact.

Reverse Video Reference

For this assignment, we had to film ourselves mimicking characters in 2D animations. Normally, we film ourselves acting out the scene we are trying to create, and then animate based on that video reference. However, this assignment required us to closely examine an animation, and then try to replicate it with our own bodies.

I found this assignment very difficult, as I'm sure most other students did. There were some strange things to work with. Poor perspective, disappearing limbs, and unbalanced characters are just a few of the challenges of replicating things in reality.

The animation I found most difficult to replicate was C. This may be because it is the longest one and had more actions to remember and keep track of as I acted it out. The other animations took me 5-10 attempts until I got one I liked, but animation C took me 27 tries, not counting the practice runs that I didn't film. I was quite frustrated, but other than that, I thought this assignment was very interested, and it taught me how much we really need to take into account when filming our video reference.

A.

B.

C.

D.

Stop Motion Animation of Falling

When I first read the requirements for the assignment, I actually had a hard time trying to decide what to do. I wanted to do something that was unique based on the little toys and things I owned. I looked at my shelf and there were so many things to choose from. After considering many possibilities, I looked at my ? block from Super Mario, and I suddenly remembered I had a little Mario mushroom to go with it. Sadly, I didn't have a Mario doll to use, so I grabbed the cutest little figure I had, which is Remy from Ratatouille.

For this shot, there were many things to consider. How would Remy walk with immovable legs? How would I get him to anticipate for the jump if he couldn't bend his waist? How could I get the mushroom to look as if it is coming out of the cube? I eventually decided to go with a more cartoony walk for Remy. For the anticipation for the jump, I tilted him forward by propping dice under his head to make it look as if he were bending down. To make the mushroom look like it was emerging from the cube, I actually had to start off with a smaller blue object because the mushroom was too big to hide behind the block. I hid a smaller pompom ball behind the cube and transitioned into the mushroom.

In terms of planning, I used a ruler to calculate how far the mushroom should fall between frames. I planned it out on a separate sheet of paper, but in order to keep a clean background for my shot, I used the ruler to measure the distances along the X and Y axes to figure out out the position rather than putting marks on my background. I may have done some of my math wrong, but I did my best to fix the timing in QuickTime.